Officer: Pat Jones Principal Scrutiny Officer will support the Panel with this debate.

Telephone: 01865 252191

Email: phjones@oxford.gov.uk

This item presents for discussion by The Panel the forward work programme and the results of recommendations made.

In particular:

·       Mathew Metcalfe will report on the progress of scoping the Estate Regeneration line of inquiry.

·       No recommendations were made to the City Executive Board at the last meeting but Members did ask Officers for further details on several performance Indicators, some of these appear on this agenda.  The outstanding ones; no second night out and satisfaction with Parks will be included on the January 2014 agenda.

·       The item raised by Councillor Hollick on “a lettings agency for the Council” will be discussed via a briefing paper at the January 2014 meeting.     

Officer: Dave Scholes, Housing Strategy and Needs Manager

Tel: 01865 252626

Email: dscholes@oxford.gov.uk

Panel members called this item from the Forward Plan for pre-decision scrutiny.  The report will be considered by the City Executive Board at their meeting on the 11^th December 2013.  

Officer: Dave Scholes, Housing Strategy and Needs Manager

Tel: 01865 252626

Email: dscholes@oxford.gov.uk

The Panel considered the Revised Allocations Scheme at their meeting on the 3rd. September.  City Executive Board agreed with a Panel recommendation on the communication of this strategy and this item presents that strategy.

Housing Panel Agreed Recommendation:

A Communication Strategy should be in place to explain the scheme as agreed, what it means for applicants alongside some general information on the likelihood of being housed.  Communication should include the opportunity for feedback on the scheme itself and the understandability of it.

Officer: Stephen Clarke, Head of Housing and Property

Tel: 01865 252447

Email: sclarke@oxford.gov.uk

The Panel considered several performance indicators the results for which had been gained through the STAR survey:

·         HC017 – Tenant satisfaction with their estates – result 83%.

·         HC001 – The % of Council tenants satisfied with Landlord Services – result 88%.

·         HC022 – Percentage of tenants satisfied that Oxford City Council listens to their views and acts on them – result 64%.

·         HC024 – Percentage of tenants satisfied with Estate Services – 78%. 

The Panel asked to see more details on these results in particular:

·         How these results benchmark against other public sector providers.

·         The methodology for consultation in particular the number of returns and their geographical and household type spread.

Officers: Stephen Clarke, Head of Housing and Property

Tel: 01865 252447

Email: dscholes@oxford.gov.uk

The Panel considered several performance indicators related to increasing housing supply:

·         HC016 – Number of affordable homes for rent delivered – Target 4/ Result 0.

·         NI154 – Net additional homes provided – Target 108/Result 36.

·         NI155 – Number of affordable homes delivered (gross) – Target 4/Result 0.

To better understand performance the Panel asked to see the programmes that underpinned these results.  

Officer: Helen Bishop Head of Customer Services will support the Panel with this debate.

Tel: 01865 252233

Email: hbishop@oxford.gov.uk

At the last meeting Panel members asked to see more details on Council Tenant rent arrears.

Further information was requested on the profile of the rent arrears figures. In particular:

·         The number of tenants in arrears who are affected by any of the benefit changes.

·         Or are in the direct payments pilot. 

·         Alongside this the profile of the debt by number of weeks in arrears.

This information was not available when the agenda was published and will be circulated separately prior to the meeting.

Notes of the meeting held on 4^th November 2013.